A lever-type connector is described in the Japanese Laid-Open Publication 7-230850 and is described hereinbelow with the aid of FIGS. 6 and 7 of this specification. A pivotable lever 2 provided on a connector housing 1 has a pair of arms 3. When the lever 2 is pivoted, resilient members 4 provided on the arms 3 of the lever 2 bend on making contact with protrusions 8 provided on the connector housing 1.
In order to fit the connector housing 1 with a corresponding connector housing 6, the lever 2 is pivoted and cams 3A of the arms 3 cause protrusions 7 on the connector housing 6 to be guided therein. When the connectors 1 and 6 are completely fitted together, a latch 5 of a lever 2 fits with a receiving member 1A of the connector housing 1. During the pivoting movement of the lever 2, the resilient member 4 makes contact with the protrusion 8 and bends, causing a return force to build up. If the movement of the lever 2 is stopped when the connectors 1 and 6 are in a half-fitted state, this force causes the lever 2 to be pushed back, thereby signalling a half-fitted position to an operator.
However, in the lever-type connector described above, the resilient member 4 is provided at a location that is offset (see symbol F in FIG. 7) from the pivoting axis of the lever 2, and for this reason the direction of the return force (the direction of an arrow B in FIG. 7) from the protrusion 8 with respect to the bent member 4 does not correspond to the direction of the moment of the closing force (the direction of an arrow A in FIG. 7). This results in a reduction in the effective return force. Consequently, a problem exists in that an effective pushing force on the corresponding connector housing may not be achieved.
The present invention has been developed after taking the above problem into consideration, and aims to present a lever-type connector which can reliably signal a half-fitted position.